Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

I didn't realize that. But like somebody said in the Enterprise thread (I think), I'm not a phaser-totin' Trekkie. Thanks for educating me.

There's never been any concrete way to convert stardates into real time. They're mentioned various times that they frequently just make them up at they go along to give the impression of the passage of time.

Which is true, except for everything I said. In the modern Trek era, 1000 units = 1 year and 1 season = 1 year. Whether or not time flows in a orderly manner inside that span is a different matter altogether.

From the Star Trek Chronology:

"Gene Roddenberry made Next Generation stardates five-digit numbers, apparently to underscore the years that theoretically elapsed since the first Star Trek series. He arbitrarily chose 4 as the first digit (supposedly because the show is set in the 24th century), and designated the second digit as the number of the show's current season. The last three digits increase unevenly from 000 at the beginning of a season, to 999 at the end. This means a stardate of 43999 would be the last day of the third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation."

This system was carried on through DS9 and VGR, except that they didn't restart with a 41--- number, they picked up in the 'year' that they started. So DS9 stardates range from 46--- to 52--- and VGR stardates begin in 48--- and end in 54---. DS9 started in the middle of TNG's 6th season and VGR started in the middle of DS9's 3rd season.

Sorry for a thread hijack (feel free to skip this post) but I'll try to briefly sum up my problems with Voyager:

In short, Voyager had the most potential of any Trek series but never reached it. I wish there were only ~5 season in the delta quadrent. Have the first season establish what's happening in the alpha quadrent and build toward a climax that involves a key event. Then, on the season finale, have Voyager involved in the key event but before it gets resolved, have them sucked into the delta quadrent. Have a decent percentage of the crew killed off (~30%) including some key characters forcing them to ally with other survivors from the alpha quadrent including some enemies (I could see a character who spends an entire season in the holding cell later becoming a key character). There's a multitude of character options in this scenario so you can create ones with the most ability to grow and create dramatic conflict. Have them get back a season or a season and a half before the series finale to see how them not being there for the key event in season one changed the course of that event. From the character's growth during their time in the delta quadrent, have the crew in opposition at times with starfleet trying to resolve the fallout from the key event. See how the characters lives had changed now that they're back and how they resolve the fallout from the key events in the last season of the show.

That would be my outline for what I would've liked to see in Voyager. Instead, I felt the episodes I've seen were average for the most part with some being pretty good or really bad. Also, I just never really liked or cared about most of the crew. Some of the DS9 crew I didn't originally like but the more episodes I saw, the more I liked and cared about the characters. They had their flaws but their flaws were part of their character, not part of the writing.

A year is the amount of time it takes the Earth (strange name for a planet) to revolve around our Sun (strange name for a star). I think it is interesting that the whole universe uses our calendar year and day.

VGR? I always thought Voyager was VOY.

Say what you will about Voyager crew, but the Doctor was cool. I liked Tes as well. B'elanna Torres had her moments, too.

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

Well since there has been a lot of bashing of Voyager lately, I thought I would bring this topic back up...

I liked the show and felt it added to the overall Star Trek World. Sure it had some bad episodes, but so did all the other series.

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

But none of the others matched VOYAGER's a) quantitative high ratio of bad to good and b) qualitative high ratio of extreme bad to mid-line good. I still find much to enjoy in VOYAGER, so I'm not out to just bash it willy-nilly, but it was so aggravating to have to go through 5, 7, 10 poor episodes to get to a great one (and even 75% of the great ones had some disappointing element to them, usually the climax/resolution).

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

I have more or less the same opinion of the series.

I LOVED seasons 1 - 3. The pilot 'Caretaker' ended with such a strong sense of anticipation - this is going to be a wonderful journey.

Unfortunately it didn't turn out that way. From season 4 onward it had its moments, but it was literally a chore watching it. Feeling this obligation to see it through to the end, but not enjoying it at all.

I suppose someday I'll sit down and view it again in its entirety in reruns. Perhaps then I'll appreciate those latter seasons more.

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

I enjoy Voyager. It's a flawed show to be sure and not the best Trek had to offer, but I enjoy it for what it is. It can be a fun way to waste an hour.

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

Gotta agree with DaveF's opinion on the first page of this thread.


Nonsense. I think that statement speaks poorly of Trek-fans. I'm a big Trek fan. I *love* change. DS9 was awesome, because it was *different*. It took risks, and had characters that were well-developed and grew throughout the series.

Voyager didn't take risks. That was the thing that bugged me most. I didn't *hate* Voyager. Voyager just failed to make me *care*... which says something.

I will grant that it did tell a few good stories, and even fewer outstanding ones. They were there, however. That said, the finale was just terrible.

Ah well... to each their own.

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

Agreed, one of the best ST eps ever !

I also remember an eps set in the future (well, relative to STV) about a Mausoleum for the victims of Voyager's WarCrimes commited against them...
That's one of the few eps I actually remember, that speaks volumes about my appreciation for the show...
Not horribly bad but, at best, very dissapointing

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

But this had more. Great cast but the characters were never developed and as someone mentioned above, it could have used more conflict.
Loved Janeway though.

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

That's interesting. Janeway was my least favorite character and my least favorite captain of all the series. I thought she followed the rule book just a little too closely.

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

I've been watching through Voyager straight through for the first time. I had seen random episodes after ditching the show following season 2.

One question, how does Naomi Wildman age so quickly?

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

From startrek.com:

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

Ha, I love these explanations.

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

I was thinking about Voyager earlier, and I thought of a single change that could have been made to the pilot episode, and how it might have strengthened the show. I wonder if anyone sees any merit in this.

It's been a while since I've seen Voyager, but my memory is that Tuvok was a loyal Starfleet officer sent to infiltrate the Maquis, and that this was revealed to the Maquis early in the pilot and essentially went nowhere. The change I propose is that this is reversed: a loyal Maquis is sent to infiltrate Voyager. Instead of having this revealed at the start, it would be something that would play out over the season or longer. Perhaps it would have been taken so far as to have the character be a suicide bomber, planning to take out Voyager. As he is planning his attack--shown to the audience, played for tension--the ship is suddenly thrown into the Delta Quadrant. He's a turncoat, but he's a capable officer, and his training takes over and he acquits himself admirably. Suddenly, the man who would destroy the ship is praised and trusted by the captain and crew. Now, he just has to dismantle the bombs before they are discovered, and decide where his loyalties lie. At first, his old hatreds are still there, and the only thing keeping him from completing his mission is the fact that he is stuck in the Delta Quadrant, too. Over time, the praise and admiration he receives from the crew start to change him. But, there's always the fear that his treachery will be discovered--which, of course, it ultimately will be.

With a few changes, the perfect candidate for this change would be Tom Paris. You wouldn't even have to change his background much. Admiral's son who made a mistake and wound up in prison. Released and seemingly eager to prove himself to Starfleet, but really bitter. He takes on the Maquis' cause, but revenge is his real motive. And, we pick up from there.

Not really sure about the part about the strength of his Maquis convictions. It might be more important to keep their cause his true motive instead of making it a personal vendetta.

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

They had their fair share of traitors aboard the ship.

Seska is the obvious example, as well as Michael Jonas.


After the events of the season 3 opener, the Maquis storyline was pretty much over and done with, save a few references when Voyager learned that Cardassia wiped them out with the help of a "Gamma Quadrant enemy" (not verbatim).

Voyager moved on and had new problems, but those problems weren't as interesting as the Maquis.

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

That was the weakness of how they handled it. Not long into it, it was almost a Next Generation, perfectly happy crew. Not quite as harmonious, but they didn't do anything with the "crew of enemies" premise.

I guess it's good my idea didn't happen, because it would have undercut or maybe even eliminated the Eddington storyline over at DS9.

Re: Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans

Yeah, the Eddington storyline is one of the best ones I've ever seen on Trek. If it hadn't been for the final Eddington episode (in which he dies), I would have continued to hate the character. I mean that in a good way, since the writing for Eddington was able to influence me to such an extent. As much as I despised Seska's inability to be loyal to Janeway (again as a result of good writing), Eddington made her look rather 'good' by comparison.

i'm skipping all of the comments in fear of spoilers... but this is probably the most appropriate thread for my input.

i'm a long time trekkie. i've seen all of TOS, TAS, TNG, ENT, the movies, but missed both DS9&VOY.

recently, i caught up on a # of VOY season1 episodes. @first i thought i saw most of season1 sporadically over the years during syndicated UPN... but after watching, now, the first 11 episodes... i realized i've only seen the very first episode the Caretaker! i didn't watch any of the season1 while it was on the air! lol.

one thing i noticed is Janeway is very hawt. i luv the way she takes command of the ship >P. her performance gives the cast a "gravitas" much like TNG's stewart and DS9's avery did and even ENT's Bakula. i never really seen mulgrew's talents until i took a look at her performance. for many, many years i've read about how many trekkies dumped on VOY. & i kind of bought into it without really watching VOY myself closely... until now! boy are they wrong! i luv the skip and a hop taht janeway gives despite being 70k light years away. i also love that they really do miss home on a # of this first eps. janeway is really the emotional core/center of the series... very much UNLIKE the other male captains. u tend to feel more when u have a female lead vs. male lead.

barring, that i also loved the rest of the cast and how their relationships have evolved. harry&paris's friendship, the ma'quis trails and 'tribulation' if u will on being integrated into the ship. there's just so much more continuity than TNG/TOS era. i also loved the Doctor's rising humanity. just watched that beowulf ep. recently. very cool stuff =).

anyways, will be chiming in as soon as i start finishing episodes and seasons and so on =D.

I know this is an appreciation thread.  And my comment is more from disappointment than dislike.  I felt the producers/writers missed a great opportunity with the ending of the show.   The show was about the crew trying to get home.  You spend 7 seasons with them hoping they do it.  Yet, the big payoff is just seeing them arrive in orbit around Earth.  I really felt they should have arrived home with at least 2-4 episodes left.  Then used those episodes to show the impact of their 7 yr absence.  While it wouldn't have been big action.  It could have been great storytelling.

You know what?  I'll retract some of my statements about how they handled the Maquis.  I think there was tension for long enough and it was handled alright.

Watched Before and After.  Wow!  I didn't remember that the Year of Hell was prefaced!  I've been enjoying season three.  A couple of weekends ago, I was watching a lot of episodes and afraid I was sort of rushing through it, but season three has lasted a good while.  I'm itching for some Seven now.  Very soon.